【Deform】 , 【distort】 , 【contort】 , 【warp】 mean to mar or spoil a person’s or thing’s appearance, character, true nature, or development by or as if by twisting.

【Deform】 is the least specific of these terms in its implications; sometimes, it carries no significance other than that expressed above; sometimes, however, it suggests a loss of some particular excellence or essential.

【Distort】 usually carries a clear implication of twisting or wresting away from or out of the natural, regular, or true shape, posture, or direction; the term, however, is used not only in referenceto physical or material things, but also in reference to minds, judgments, facts, or statements that may be twisted by conditions, circumstances, or, when a personal agent is involved, a dominating purpose or intent.

【Contort】 implies a more involved or continuous twisting together or upon itself; it therefore differs from  【distort】 in suggesting a grotesque or a painful effect rather than a departure from the natural, the true, or the normal.

【Warp】 denotes a twisting or bending or drawing out of a flat plane by some force (as drying and shrinking). It often may imply the operation of a force that twists or wrests a thing so as to give it a bias, a wrong slant, an abnormal direction, or a distorted significance.